Amalgamator



A. HARTER.

AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY22,1919.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Zrronugs.

A. HARTER.

AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION HLED MAY22,1919.

1920. 2 SHEETSSHEET 2- Patented Apr. 13

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2////% ATTORNEG H v Wlv Q R .AL HARTER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

AMALG-AMATOR.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, AL HARTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Amalgamators, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to make an electric amal-' gamator, and my invention consists of the novel features herein shown, described and claimed.

Flgure 1 1s a top plan view of an electric amalgamator embodying the principles of my invention, the view being taken looking in the direction indicated by the arrow 1 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation looking in the ing in the direction indicated by the 'arrows.-

Fig. 6 is an'end elevation looking in the direction indicated by the arrows 6 in Figs. 3 and 4. I

The base sills 1 and 2 are of considerable length. Cross pieces 3 and 4' connect the sills 1 and 2 and the electricgenerator, 5 is mounted upon the cross pieces 3 and 4.

-Posts 6, 7 and 8 extend upwardly from the sills 1 and 2 and timbers '9 and 10 are mounted upon the upper ends of the posts 6, 7 and8 parallel with the sills 1 and 2. A driving shaft 11 is mounted in bearings 12 and 13 upon the timbers 9 and 10. y

A belt wheel 14 is fixed upon the outer end of the shaft 11 and a belt 15 connects the belt wheel 14 to the driving pulley 16 of the engine 17. belt 18 connects the engine driving pulley 19 to the pulley 20 of the electric generator 5. Cross pieces .21, 22 and 23 are mounted upon the timbers 9 and 10. A counter shaft 24 is mounted upon the cross pieces 21, 22 and 23. A-

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

7 Application filed.May 22, 1919.. Serial No. 298,942.

bevel gear 25 'is fixed'upon the shaft 11 and meshes with a bevel gear 26 fixed upon the counter shaft 24 so ,as to drive the counter shaft.

A belt pulley 27 'is-fixed upon the counter shaft 24 and drives a belt 28, said belt 28 running over the pulley 29 to drive the amalgamator unit 30.

A hopper 31' is mounted between the timbers 9 and 10 and discharges into the amalgamator unit 30.

The details of the electric amalgamator unit 30 are as follows:

The cast iron trough 31 is substantially a half circle in cross section and legs 32 extend downwardly from the ends of the trough to support the trough with its flat side upwardly. A drain opening 33 is formed in the 'end wall 34 of the trough near the bottom and the opening 33 is controlled by a slide 35.

A half bearing 36 extends from the end wall 34 and a similar half bearing 37 extends from the opposite end wall 38.

The mercury 39 for the amalgamating process is placed in the trough 31. The electromagnetic agitating and separating unit 40 is rotatably mounted in the trough 31. The details of the'unit 40 are as follows:

A cylindrical case 41 is preferably made of brass or other non-magnetic material.

' The heads 42 and 43 are fixed in the ends of the case 40. A tubular shaft 44 extends from the head 42 through the half bearing 36 and the tubular shaft 45 extends from 'the head 43'through the half bearing 37. 'A sprocket 46 is fixed upon the shaft 45 'and the belt pulley 29 is fixed upon the shaft 45.

Half bearings 47 and 48 are secured to the half'bearings 36. and 37 'to complete the mountings of the shafts 44 and 45.

'Insul'ating tubes 49 and 50 are placed in the shafts 44 and 45 and electric conductors 51 and 52 are placed in the insulating tubes 49 and 50. The insulating tubes 49 and 50 may be glass, bakelite, hard rubber or other impervious insulating material. A wire 53 leads from the conductor 51 to one side of the generator 5 and a wire 54 leads from the conductor 52 through a voltmeter 55 and through an ammeter 56 to the other side of the generator 5.

Coils 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62 are wound upon cores 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68 and the ends of the cores are fixed in the magnetic plates 69 and 70. Sheets of insulation 71 are placed around the plates 69 and and the plates are inserted into the casing 41.

The magnetic fingers 72 are inserted through the brass casing 41 and through the insulation 71 and tapped into the plates 69 and 70. Corresponding ends of the coils 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62 are connected to a Wire 73 and the wire 73 is connected to the inner end of the conductor 52. The opposite ends of the coils are connected together and connected to a wire 74 and the wire 74 is connected to the conductor 51 so as to connect the coils across the lines 73 and 74.

Of course the parts 63 to 74 are made up and placed in the casing 41 before the heads 42 and 43 are fixed in the casing. The magnetic fingers 72 are arranged in winding rows around the casing 41 so as to operate somewhat like a screw conveyer to move the material endwise in the trough 31. If the pulley 29 is operated in the direction indicated by the arrow 7 5 of Fig. 3 and the fingers 72 arranged as shown, the material will move from the end 34 toward the end 38. The fingers 72 are arranged in winding rows like a screw conveyer, and reckoning from the head ends of the rows the material will move from the first finger toward the next one and so on.

A rotary brush 76 is mounted in bearings 77 and 78 parallel with the unit 40 and in position to brush the casing 41 and brush the projecting portions of the fingers 72, and a chain 79 connects the sprocket 46 to a sprocket 80 upon the shaft 81 of the brush 76 so as to rotate the brush 7 6 in the direction indicated by the arrow 82.

The hopper 31 discharges into the trough 31 through the opening 83 and the flow from the hopper to the trough is regulated by a slide 84. i

The rotation of the electromagnetic agitating and separating unit 40 in the hopper 31 will take the ore from the forward end and forward side of the trough as shown in Fig. 3 and pass it through the mercury 39 and discharge the dirt over the edge 84 and leave the gold in the mercury.

The action of the magnetic fingers serves to breakup the ore and to drive the ore downwardly into the mercury and the magnetic fingers will pick up the magnetic sand and the sand collected upon the fingers will be brushed away by the brush 76.

The fingers 72 are arranged so as to cover the entire field of the mercury one after the other and the action of the fingers in driving the ore downwardly upon the surface 85 of the mercury will break the ore and separate the magnetic sand from the gold, that is break it loose. The gold will be assimilated by the mercury and the magnetic sand will be collected by the fingers and the non-magnetic material will gather upon the surface 86 of the mercury and will overflow the edge 84 of the trough.

There is no way the ore can get fromthe surface 85 of the mercury to the surface 86 of the mercury except by passing through the mercury and all the gold which comes in contact with the mercury will be held to make the amalgam and all of the magnetic sand which comes in contact with the magnetic fingers will be held by the fingers until removed by the brush 76.

Thus I have produced a continuously mechanically operating electromagnetic amalgamator in which the ore is broken up and driven through a body of the mercury by magnetic fingers which will collect and remove the magnetic material and leave the gold in the mercury and which will discharge the non-magnetic dirt and the mag netic material clear of the mercury.

Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. An electric amalgamator comprising meansforming a trough adapted to contain a quantity of mercury, and an electromagnetic agitating and separating unit mounted horizontally in the trough and adapted to be partly submerged in the mercury; said unit comprising a cylindrical case of non-magnetic material, heads fixed in the ends of the case, tubular shafts extending from the heads, insulating tubes in the tubular shafts, electric conductors extending through the tubes and adapted to'be connected to conducting wires, magnetic cores, coils upon the magnetic cores, magnetic plates connected to the ends of the magnetic cores and mounted in the.cylindrical nonmagnetic case, insulation between the magnetic plates and the non-magnetic case, the

coils being connected to the conductors, and magnetic fingers inserted through the nonmagnetic case and through the insulation and connected to the magnetic plates.

2. An electric amalgamator comprising means forming a trough adapted to contain a quantity of mercury, and an electromagnetic agitating and separating unit mounted horizontally in the trough and adapted to be partly submerged in the mercury; said unit comprising a cylindrical case of non-magnetic material, heads fixed in the ends of the case, tubular shafts extending from the heads, insulating tubes in the tubular shafts, electric conductors extending through the tubes and adapted to be connected to conducting Wires, magnetic cores, magnetic fingers inserted through the noncoils upon the magnetic cores, magnetic magnetic case and through the insulation plates connected to the ends of the magnetic and connected to the magnetic plates, said 10 cores and mounted in the cylindrical nonfingers being arranged in Winding rows. magnetic case, insulation between the mag- In testimony whereof I have signed my netic plates and the non-magnetic case, the name to this specification.

coils being connected to the conductors, and AL HARTER. 

